The Indian Cabinet has followed the recommendations of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) government body in setting starting prices for the auction. A previous recommendation by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was rejected as too high.

Licences for 5Mhz GSM at 1.8Ghz will start at INR140 billion (US$2.5 billion), licences for CDMA will start at INR180 billion.

The move to list licences for auction comes after the Supreme Court ruled the results of the so-called “first come, first served” auction in 2008 unconstitutional. 122 licences were revoked in February by the court, with the licensees allowed to operate until the 7th of September.

The GSMA had described the new prices as too high when the EGoM recommendations were made in July. The Indian Government has today asked the Supreme Court to push back its deadline of the 31st of August for the auction.